


Influential First Meeting

by VampirePaladin



Category: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Genre: Developing Relationship, F/F, First Meetings, Fish out of Water, Post-Canon, Pre-Canon, Storms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-28
Updated: 2013-06-28
Packaged: 2017-12-16 10:10:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/860914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VampirePaladin/pseuds/VampirePaladin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fluttershy was cold, wet and hungry.  She had no place to go on the ground.  When she takes shelter in a barn she ends up meeting somepony who will become very special to her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Influential First Meeting

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Measured](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Measured/gifts).



Fluttershy peeked around the tree that she was hiding behind. She was looking at all the ponies going about their business in Ponyville. Well, at least she thought it was Ponyville. This would be her first time ever actually seeing a city on the ground. She did not want to go into town at all, but she was cold, tired and hungry. She loved the animals and her time on the ground had been magical since she had fallen three days ago, but now she needed to eat more than the few plants she could find in the forest.

Fluttershy took three big breaths to calm herself down and to gather her courage. She stepped out from behind the tree and walked into town. Every loud noise made her flinch and whenever a pony got near her she shied away from them. This was just too much. She did not know anyone and most of the ponies were not even pegasi. 

Loud music burst out from the house she was walking past. Fluttershy jumped and then took off running. She did not look back and see the unicorn filly with a backwards bridged eighth note cutie mark calling after her and trying to apologize. Fluttershy was long gone.

Fluttershy kept running until she was well out of town. The only reason she eventually stopped running was because she was too tired to run anymore. She leaned against a tree trunk, trying to catch her breath. When she had finally calmed down she realized that she could smell something sweet. She looked up. The branches of the tree were dripping with apples.

Her stomach rumbled. She was ever so hungry.

She flew up and landed on one of the branches and helped herself to a few apples. Right now, they were the most delicious apples she had ever eaten. She flew back onto the ground. Her stomach was comfortably full.

Thunder rumbled in the sky. The sky was growing dark. Fluttershy had forgotten there was a storm scheduled for today. Why should she have remembered? She was not a strong enough flier or even old enough to help with weather duty. She could already smell rain in the air. What was a storm like when you lived on the ground? Was it safe? What about lightning? She needed to find someplace to take shelter.

Fluttershy was running again. It started raining. Her mane was plastered to her face, making it hard to see. In between pink hair and torrential downpour she saw a large red building. She ran for it. There were large doors in the front that were locked, but off to the side there was a smaller, pony-sized door that was unlocked. She opened it and cautiously stepped a hoof inside.

“H-Hello, is anypony here?” 

No one answered Fluttershy.

“I-I am just going to stay in here while it rains.”

She moved inside and was surprised to see bales of straw and hay. She found a pile of loose hay and curled up on it. The wet fur made her shiver. Even with the discomfort, it still did not take her long to fall asleep.

When Fluttershy woke up she was warm and she could smell food. She opened her eyes cautiously. There was a patchwork quilt on top of her. Sitting next to her was a plate with fried apples and potatoes with cinnamon on them. Fluttershy was up and eating the warm food at speeds that would impress even Rainbow Dash.

“Oh, you’re awake,” said a pony with a drawl to her voice.

Fluttershy snapped her head to the open door. She backed away from the food and pawed at the floor. “I-I’m sorry. I didn’t know this was your home. It was just raining so hard and-“

“Don’t worry about it. And this ain’t my home. It is a barn. The name’s Applejack. What’s yours?”

“Fluttershy.”

“I don’t reckon I know you from these here parts. Where are you from?”

“Cloudsdale.”

“Oh, you must be that filly everyone is all in a tizzy about finding. They said you fell from the clouds and you could barely fly.”

Fluttershy just nodded as she made little steps backwards.

Applejack glanced down at Fluttershy’s slowly retreating hooves. “How about this, you can stay in the barn while I tell my big brother and Granny that you are here? Then we can tell someone in town to go tell the folks at Cloudsdale that you are alright.”

Fluttershy nodded.

“Sounds great. I’ll be back later to see if you need anything.”

Applejack left the barn quickly, but without any jerky movements. Fluttershy reminded her of an injured animal and one thing you do not do to an injured animal is make sudden movements around them.

It was only a few hours later that the instructors from Flight Camp and her parents were all there. They talked about how this should never have happened and how wonderful it was that Fluttershy was safe and sound. Fluttershy was quiet up until they began discussing the best way to take her back up amongst the clouds. In a soft voice she said she did not want to go back. Her parents were used to their soft spoken daughter and they heard her even over all the voices. After a lengthy discussion it was agreed that Fluttershy would stay in Ponyville, with her parents taking turns staying with her. The catch was that she would have to attend school here.

 

Rarity had pushed Fluttershy into a chair in front of her vanity. Her unicorn magic held brushes, sprays, hairpins and many other things floating in the air. She chatted on as she styled Fluttershy’s mane. Fluttershy was quiet, but not the quiet of discomfort. This was the quiet of friendly companionship.

Fluttershy had been terrified of starting school at first, but she had quickly become very close friends with Rarity. Well, it had been more along the lines of Rarity insisting she come over after school. It had been scary at first; Rarity’s artistic talents were very intense. Now, she considered the unicorn to be one of her few close friends.

“Rarity, I was wondering,” Fluttershy said during one of Rarity’s pauses, “why doesn’t Applejack attend school?”

“Oh, you mean that hillbilly? She went to school for a while and learnt the basics. Now she only comes to school during the winter. The farm needs her too much during the rest of the year.”

“Oh,” was Fluttershy’s only reply.

“How do you know Applejack?”

“I spent a night in her barn. She was very nice and covered me with a blanket and brought me food. I hoped she would come to school with us.”

“Well, I suppose I can see why you would want to see her again, even if she is entirely lacking in manners and etiquette. Maybe you could go visit her in the evenings?”

“Oh, I would hate to impose.”

“Nonsense, I’m sure she would be delighted to have someone to play with who isn’t her big brother or baby sister.”

“Thank you, Rarity.”

 

Fluttershy approached Sweet Apple Acres. She hoped that Applejack would not still be working in the orchards. She knocked on the front door.

“Hello, is Applejack home?” Fluttershy asked when the red stallion opened the door.

“Eyup.” He stepped aside to let her enter.

“Fluttershy, it is mighty fine to see you again,” Applejack said. She was sitting at the kitchen table.

“W-Well, Rarity said you don’t go to school for most of the year. S-So I thought I would tutor you when you couldn’t go.”

“You’d do that for me?”

“Of course.”

“Thank you,” Applejack got up from the table and hugged Fluttershy, “I have been struggling more and more each year to catch up. I didn’t want ask anypony for help.”

Fluttershy blushed while she was being hugged. “I brought my books. We can start tonight. That is, if you are alright with that?”

“I’d like that.”

 

“And we are going over a bridge,” Applejack said as she lead the blindfolded Fluttershy.

“Where are we going?” Fluttershy asked. She carefully stepped onto the wooden bridge.

“I already told you it is a secret.”

Applejack stayed by Fluttershy’s side. Whenever they neared something that could trip the pegasus Applejack would give a careful direction or even nudge Fluttershy the right way.

“Alright, we are here.” Applejack pulled the blindfold off of Fluttershy.

They were standing in front of a cozy cabin at the edge of the Everfree Forest. It had grass growing on the roof and all sorts of nooks and crannies for different types of animals to live in.

“What a pretty house,” Fluttershy said.

“I’m glad you like it, cause it is your house.”

“R-Really?”

Applejack nuzzled Fluttershy. “I wouldn’t have been able to finish school if it weren’t for you. The least I could do is get the Apple Family together to build a little house. Even the prim and prissy Rarity helped out. Your friend Rainbow Dash came too.”

“I-I don’t know what to say.”

“Usually ‘thank you’ works.”

“Thank you, Applejack.”

 

Fluttershy shut the door of her cottage behind her. It had been a long day of helping animals. She was ready to just curl up and go to sleep. She did not even want to make dinner for herself. At least Angel and the others had already eaten.

Wait, what was that smell?

“I hope I’m not barging in or anything?” Applejack asked. Her hat was resting on a hook of the wall instead of on her head.

“Oh, Applejack, what brings you over today? What about the farm?”

“The farm will do just fine without me for a day. Big Mac and his young’uns can run it without Aunt Applejack for a day. Besides, you do know what today is, don’t you?”

“Oh no, did I forget Angel’s birthday?”

Applejack laughed. “Today is the anniversary of the first time we met.”

“You remembered!” Fluttershy was unusually loud. She had thought Applejack would have forgotten completely.

“’Course, I remembered. How could I forget the day I met my very, special somepony?” Applejack nuzzled Fluttershy.

Fluttershy nuzzled back before remembering the smell. “Did you make dinner?”

“Sure did. Come on, before it gets cold.”

Fluttershy put a wing around Applejack as they moved to the table. She would never dream of telling Applejack that the anniversary was tomorrow.


End file.
